“Give me the phone, call him, call him!”
“Okay, I’ll call Mr. Shi now.”
Just as the nurse was about to call Shi Shaochuan, Wen Lele changed her mind and quickly stopped her. “Forget it, don’t call him…”
The nurse had no choice but to stop.
Wen Lele began to calm herself down gradually. What use would it be if I make him come here and question him? I can’t move and he won’t admit it anyway. There’s nothing I can do with him.
Wen Lele teared up again, unable to contain her misery.
Once I get discharged, I must verify if Shi Bao’er was the culprit. If she was the one who had done it, I must torture her to no end!
——
An Xiaoning initially wanted to visit the tomb together with Jin Qingyan tomorrow and get Fan Shixin to take over at the office for a day.
However, there were sudden changes that had to be made to her plans.
Team Leader Zhang gave her an emergency call at about six o’clock.
He desperately pleaded for An Xiaoning to make a trip to the police station.
After learning about the exact situation, An Xiaoning immediately rushed to the police station on her car. What she dreaded most had ultimately happened.
“Where was the deceased found?”
“The wheat field nearest to the lake. The deceased was a farmer from the village, and his wife was the one who had found his body. We headed to the site immediately after we received the report. However, we couldn’t find anything at all. There weren’t even any footprints. We’ve also checked the surveillance cameras, but they were all damaged and we couldn’t get any footages.”
An Xiaoning frowned and stared at the corpse, which was in a similar state as the archeologist’s corpse. “When was the police report made?”
“5:23 am.”
An Xiaoning murmured, “5:23 am… The crime must have been committed before that, then…”
The first thing that came to her mind were the bizarre calls that she would receive at 5:08 am every day.
Could it be the same culprit?
That’s very likely, she thought.
Did I happen to miss the owner of that tomb because I simply got lucky and he happened to be away at that time?
But the amulets had all gone missing. How could that be explained?
Did the tomb belong to more than one person?
“Let his family bring his corpse back to be buried. Inform Bureau Chief Pan about it and tell him to bring some men to the lake. I’ll go home to get my stuff before rushing there to meet him.”
“Okay.”
….
When they arrived at the lake, the sky was already starting to darken.
Having to delve into the tomb at night was indeed a hair-raising feat.
However, she had no choice.
The police officers waited outside in two groups while An Xiaoning and Jin Qingyan entered together. Pan Zhenghui initially offered to accompany them. However, An Xiaoning decided to let him stay outside upon seeing his trembling legs.
Being middle-aged, Pan Zhenghui was definitely not at the peak of his fitness. Thus, it was a better idea for him to sit it out, lest they’d have to take care of him while they were inside.
Hence, An Xiaoning decided to bring Zu Dong and Gong Le instead.
After all, they were young and fit and could carry the things that she had brought along. Moreover, they were brave as well and did not seem at all intimidated when she suggested that they go in with her, unlike Ma Jianguo, who seemed like he was about to pee himself. Ma Jianguo was quivering from head to toe in fear that An Xiaoning would pick him.
He finally heaved a sigh of relief after An Xiaoning decided to take Zu Dong and Gong Le with her. He had broken out into a cold sweat because of how frightened and anxious he was.
The four of them entered the tomb.
This was An Xiaoning’s second time entering.
Hence, she took the lead while Zu Dong and Gong Le walked in between her and Jin Qingyan.
As soon as they entered, Zu Dong remarked, “Why is it so chilly in here? It’s almost like wintertime.”
“Yeah. It’s much… spookier than I had imagined. It’s a little terrifying,” Gong Le chimed in.
“Don’t be scared. I’m here, aren’t I?” An Xiaoning said in a bid to placate their feelings of fear.
Gong Le expressed assent, and the four of them proceeded to walk further in quietly.
This time, they felt a strong gust of wind that was just like a tornado before they could even see the light. If An Xiaoning had not grabbed Zu Dong and Gong Le forcefully to hold them down, they would have been blown away by the wind.
Soon, the wind stopped, and a deafening silence filled the pitch-dark space. An Xiaoning was certain that the owner of the tomb was inside.
She yelled, “Show yourself! Let us see who on earth you are!”
“Hahahahaha!” A woman began laughing sinisterly, giving Gong Le and Zu Dong a great fright. Scared out of their wits, they began trembling uncontrollably.
An Xiaoning rebuked, “What are you laughing about? You sound terrible. Come out.”
The laughter ceased as soon as An Xiaoning made the snide remark. The woman answered in a cold and goosebump-inducing voice, “You may see me, but on the condition that the rest of them scram. You shall meet me alone.”
“What if I refuse to give in?”
“I don’t want to kill anyone so you’d better concede. Your amulets don’t work on me.”
An Xiaoning turned around and said to Jin Qingyan, “Bring the two of them out.”
“Did you forget what I said? No!” he refused vehemently. Jin Qingyan would never leave her alone.
An Xiaoning did not actually plan to make him leave. After all, the woman had already stated that An Xiaoning’s amulets would not work on her. Thus, she would definitely die if she could not defeat the woman on her own without Jin Qingyan.
“Yes. Don’t go out, then. I shall see how capable she really is.”
She looked at Jin Qingyan with a smile, feeling much safer and at ease with him around, because she knew that he was not Henry now. She knew that he was completely capable of unleashing the extraordinary powers that he possessed.
After hearing their conversation, the woman guffawed menacingly and sneered, “Seems like there’s no need for us to meet anymore. Hide and seek is… pretty interesting too.”
An Xiaoning said unhurriedly, “None of the supernatural beings that I’ve encountered had dared to touch my amulets, and yet you’re not afraid of them at all. You even told me that they don’t work on you. Well, that just means that you have a physical body. That just allowed me to verify something. Interesting.”
“What… do you mean?”
“I mean what I just said. I’m asking you one more time, are you going to show yourself or not?” An Xiaoning questioned once more.
“Like I said, I’ll only meet you if the rest of them get out of here. No bargaining.”
An Xiaoning turned around and said to the three of them, “Let’s get out of here.”
Despite being terribly frightened, Zu Dong asked, “Team Leader, why are we leaving so quickly?”
“Since she refuses to meet us in here, we’ll have to take it outside.”
The woman retorted, “I’m not going to meet you guys outside.”
“Oh, you will. You definitely will,” An Xiaoning said firmly.
Jin Qingyan led the way out. Although they did go in circles for a while, they did not waste as much time as she did previously.
They exited the tomb to see that the sky had already turned pitch black.
Pan Zhenghui and the rest scurried toward them and asked, “Xiaoning, how did it go?”
